diff --git a/dev-infra/ng-dev.js b/dev-infra/ng-dev.js
index 9a73ddbc31..9778612953 100755
--- a/dev-infra/ng-dev.js
+++ b/dev-infra/ng-dev.js
@@ -5623,25 +5623,6 @@ function invokeYarnInstallCommand(projectDir) {
         }
     });
 }
-/**
- * Invokes the `yarn bazel clean` command in order to clean the output tree and ensure new artifacts
- * are created for builds.
- */
-function invokeBazelCleanCommand(projectDir) {
-    return tslib.__awaiter(this, void 0, void 0, function* () {
-        try {
-            // Note: No progress indicator needed as that is the responsibility of the command.
-            // TODO: Consider using an Ora spinner instead to ensure minimal console output.
-            yield spawnWithDebugOutput('yarn', ['bazel', 'clean'], { cwd: projectDir });
-            info(green('  ✓   Cleaned bazel output tree.'));
-        }
-        catch (e) {
-            error(e);
-            error(red('  ✘   An error occurred while cleaning the bazel output tree.'));
-            throw new FatalReleaseActionError();
-        }
-    });
-}
 
 /**
  * @license
@@ -6297,7 +6278,6 @@ class ReleaseAction {
             // created in the `next` branch. The new package would not be part of the patch branch,
             // so we cannot build and publish it.
             yield invokeYarnInstallCommand(this.projectDir);
-            yield invokeBazelCleanCommand(this.projectDir);
             const builtPackages = yield invokeReleaseBuildCommand();
             // Verify the packages built are the correct version.
             yield this._verifyPackageVersions(releaseNotes.version, builtPackages);
diff --git a/dev-infra/release/publish/actions.ts b/dev-infra/release/publish/actions.ts
index 5be6919a19..95aa24eaf2 100644
--- a/dev-infra/release/publish/actions.ts
+++ b/dev-infra/release/publish/actions.ts
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import {runNpmPublish} from '../versioning/npm-publish';
 import {FatalReleaseActionError, UserAbortedReleaseActionError} from './actions-error';
 import {getCommitMessageForRelease, getReleaseNoteCherryPickCommitMessage} from './commit-message';
 import {changelogPath, packageJsonPath, waitForPullRequestInterval} from './constants';
-import {invokeBazelCleanCommand, invokeReleaseBuildCommand, invokeYarnInstallCommand} from './external-commands';
+import {invokeReleaseBuildCommand, invokeYarnInstallCommand} from './external-commands';
 import {findOwnedForksOfRepoQuery} from './graphql-queries';
 import {getPullRequestState} from './pull-request-state';
 import {getLocalChangelogFilePath, ReleaseNotes} from './release-notes/release-notes';
@@ -463,7 +463,6 @@ export abstract class ReleaseAction {
     // created in the `next` branch. The new package would not be part of the patch branch,
     // so we cannot build and publish it.
     await invokeYarnInstallCommand(this.projectDir);
-    await invokeBazelCleanCommand(this.projectDir);
     const builtPackages = await invokeReleaseBuildCommand();
 
     // Verify the packages built are the correct version.
diff --git a/dev-infra/release/publish/external-commands.ts b/dev-infra/release/publish/external-commands.ts
index 2892bc47da..3c9cfbe8f7 100644
--- a/dev-infra/release/publish/external-commands.ts
+++ b/dev-infra/release/publish/external-commands.ts
@@ -90,20 +90,3 @@ export async function invokeYarnInstallCommand(projectDir: string): Promise<void
     throw new FatalReleaseActionError();
   }
 }
-
-/**
- * Invokes the `yarn bazel clean` command in order to clean the output tree and ensure new artifacts
- * are created for builds.
- */
-export async function invokeBazelCleanCommand(projectDir: string): Promise<void> {
-  try {
-    // Note: No progress indicator needed as that is the responsibility of the command.
-    // TODO: Consider using an Ora spinner instead to ensure minimal console output.
-    await spawnWithDebugOutput('yarn', ['bazel', 'clean'], {cwd: projectDir});
-    info(green('  ✓   Cleaned bazel output tree.'));
-  } catch (e) {
-    error(e);
-    error(red('  ✘   An error occurred while cleaning the bazel output tree.'));
-    throw new FatalReleaseActionError();
-  }
-}
diff --git a/dev-infra/release/publish/test/test-utils.ts b/dev-infra/release/publish/test/test-utils.ts
index 0cffd5b8ff..77dd64410f 100644
--- a/dev-infra/release/publish/test/test-utils.ts
+++ b/dev-infra/release/publish/test/test-utils.ts
@@ -97,7 +97,6 @@ export function setupReleaseActionForTesting<T extends ReleaseAction>(
   spyOn(npm, 'runNpmPublish').and.resolveTo();
   spyOn(externalCommands, 'invokeSetNpmDistCommand').and.resolveTo();
   spyOn(externalCommands, 'invokeYarnInstallCommand').and.resolveTo();
-  spyOn(externalCommands, 'invokeBazelCleanCommand').and.resolveTo();
   spyOn(externalCommands, 'invokeReleaseBuildCommand').and.resolveTo([
     {name: '@angular/pkg1', outputPath: `${testTmpDir}/dist/pkg1`},
     {name: '@angular/pkg2', outputPath: `${testTmpDir}/dist/pkg2`}
diff --git a/scripts/build/package-builder.js b/scripts/build/package-builder.js
index 6c735a3cf0..9081eb70b4 100644
--- a/scripts/build/package-builder.js
+++ b/scripts/build/package-builder.js
@@ -81,6 +81,16 @@ function buildTargetPackages(destDir, enableIvy, description, isRelease = false)
       bazelCmd} query --output=label "attr('tags', '\\[.*release-with-framework.*\\]', //packages/...) intersect kind('ng_package|pkg_npm', //packages/...)"`;
   const targets = exec(getTargetsCmd, true).split(/\r?\n/);
 
+  // If we are in release mode, run `bazel clean` to ensure the execroot and action cache
+  // are not populated. This is necessary because targets using `npm_package` rely on
+  // workspace status variables for the package version. Such NPM package targets are not
+  // rebuilt if only the workspace status variables change. This could result in accidental
+  // re-use of previously built package output with a different `version` in the `package.json`.
+  if (isRelease) {
+    console.info('Building in release mode. Resetting the Bazel execroot and action cache..');
+    exec(`${bazelCmd} clean`);
+  }
+
   // Use either `--config=snapshot` or `--config=release` so that builds are created with the
   // correct embedded version info.
   exec(`${bazelCmd} build --config=${isRelease ? 'release' : 'snapshot'} --config=${